This is intended as a follow-on to Daryl's install thread. His how-to is fantastic, very detailed, so I'm not going to talk about that much. Instead, I wanted to give my impressions of the Peak Performance urethane bushings.
Here they are in their little box. Chinese food anyone?
Lined up for inspection:
As you can see, the bottom spacers are pretty much the same as the aluminum ones, but the top spacers surround the bushing fully, rather than having a slot for installation ease. They do have a slit that enables you to wangle them around the stud between the subframe and the unibody.
Here's my only install note: heat the top spacers with a heat gun. It'll make them flexible, and if you stretch the slit section apart it'll stay open longer. I had a hell of a time with them before I thought of this.
Installed (rear set):
Driving impressions:
These were sold to me as being 99% as stiff as the metal ones, but having far less noise and vibration transmitted to the cabin. I was expecting a "rubbery" urethane like ES bushings, but these are harder, more "plastic-like" for lack of a better description. More rigid, I guess. The install took slightly less than an hour, including two breaks to shoot my valve cover with more coats of paint.
The back end does feel quite a bit tighter; the ride stayed the same, i.e. did not deteriorate at all as far as I can tell. The car does seem a bit noisier especially under engine braking, but I don't find it annoying or objectionable at all. I'm considering a bit of Dynamat or similar in the trunk/back seat area, to keep the wife's complaints to a minimum though.
Overall I'm very pleased with the results. I'm taking a 1/2 hour highway drive later so we'll see how it acts on noisy droning concrete.
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